Iraqi pro-gov’t forces kill four Islamic State terrorists in Nineveh
A Shi’ite volunteer wearing a mask, who has joined the Iraqi army to fight against the predominantly Sunni militants from the radical Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), looks on during a parade on a street in Kanaan, Diyala province, June 26, 2014.
Nineveh (IraqiNews.com) – An Iraqi paramilitary force said on Wednesday that its fighters killed four members of the Islamic State terrorist group in Nineveh province.
“A force of the 53rd and 40th brigades of the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) killed four Islamic State militants during a preemptive operation in the Sheikh Ibrahim mountain range, south of Tal Afar,” Iraqi website Alghad Press quoted the paramilitary force as saying in a press statement.
Two hotbeds of the Islamic State terrorist group were also destroyed in the operation, the statement read.
Former Iraqi prime minister Haider al-Abadi announced in August 2017 that Nineveh province was fully liberated from Islamic State after the district of Tal Afar was recaptured.
The announcement came after the defeat of the jihadist group in the town of Ayadiya, where the militants had fled to from Tal Afar.
Islamic State militants seized control of much of Nineveh, including the provincial capital of Mosul, in June 2014.
The Iraqi government launched an operation to retake Tal Afar on August 20, 2017 involving some 50,000 personnel from the army, air force, federal police, special forces and the Shia Muslim-led paramilitary Popular Mobilization Forces.